Beyond Death: Origins, Book 1 Read Online Free PDF

as the open door slammed into the stairwell wall. His knee hit the chair that some idiot had used to keep the automatic door from closing. At least that flew toward the threat. Didn’t faze them much though. A mere foot from two of them now, he jumped back through the door. Doorknob in hand, he pulled the door toward him. It didn’t slam.
    Instead, it caught on an outstretched arm. The sight of the dead skin sickened him. He’d never get used to it, like an animated corpse. Giving the door a hard push in the usual direction of egress, it stopped short. Their moans rang out. From the thuds, he’d hit a few on the head with it. Many had tumbled down the stairs in unison from the impact.
    “Like dominoes,” he exhaled the words.
    Slamming the door shut, the automatic lock clicking into place was the best thing he’d heard all night.  Before he could catch a breath, he turned to the scratch of metal. Lucas had pushed a chair his way.
    “Throw it up under the latch just in case,” he urged.
    “I don’t think they’re going to bust down a double-walled fire door, but no precaution can be too much at this point,” he wheezed.
    Chase checked the door on the other end of the hall before going back to the lab.
    “Look at her,” Lucas said when Chase got back into the lab.
    “Do I have to?” Chase asked as he bent over to catch his breath.
    The rush that propelled him to action tapered off by making him dizzy. He’d been there before.
    “You were amazing. And you call yourself old. Did you see the moves you put on those zombies?” Lucas carried on.
    “So now they’re zombies?” Chase asked.
    He looked up at the boy. Coming to a stand, he glanced at the girl still making in-human sounds and fighting on the floor. She didn’t sweat. She didn’t focus. She just reacted. In that thing, he barely saw the girl he’d once known.
    “What else would you call them? Do your tests, but she’s not one of the living. I don’t know how, but it seems the movies were only predictions. Do you think any of the books got it right? Do you think we could finally learn from fiction about real life?”
    “Calm down. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Chase huffed. “The initial assessment says you’re right, but my brain hasn’t caught up. It’s waiting for my old body to stop depriving it of oxygen at the moment. I acted on instinct, but with muscles that hadn’t moved that way in years.”
    “You need to get out of those bloody clothes,” Lucas yelled over the current round of agitated groans form the thing on the floor.
    As Chase changed his clothes and washed off, Lucas rambled on. Chase didn’t seem to need to bother with answering the boy. Lucas worked through his thoughts and theories out loud.
    “What do you think this all means?” Lucas finally asked.
    “I think it means that I need to call Jayda. Out of my life or not, I care about her.”

Chapter Six
    Jayda woke from sleep with a start. Sitting straight up, she listened for the sound that woke her to repeat.
    “What is it?” her husband Richard asked.
    Blinking, her dark-haired Richard sat up to put an arm around her.
    “I heard something,” she whispered.
    “It’s just a bad dream,” Richard yawned. “You’ve been tossing and turning all night. I’ve never gotten close to a deep sleep.”
    “Quiet,” she grumbled.
    Another crash sounded, followed by the breaking of glass. They both jumped out of bed at the same time. Jayda went right for a baseball bat she kept under the bed. At least she no longer slept with a gun in one hand and a knife in the other. She’s stopped that for Richard’s sake, but slept better knowing she had some sort of weapon close by. She went for her crutch second. She had no time to put on her prosthetic leg.
    Before they met at the edge of the bed, a repetition of objects breaking rang up from the dining room. Jayda maneuvered through the door before Richard. Even with his hand now clamped on her arm, she shrugged